DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Heading into Labor Day weekend, you can bet the beaches will be packed. Volusia Beach Safety is gearing up for the busy weekend for crowds but also said it could be busy for water rescues with rough conditions.
With two storms now out in the Atlantic, it’s kicking up the surf and also creating extremely strong rip currents.
“Make sure you’re swimming in front of those staffed lifeguard towers,” Deputy Chief Tammy Malphurs said.
Lifeguards will be all hands-on deck this weekend in Volusia running about 40 to 50 towers.
“We’re expecting hazardous rip current conditions all weekend,” Malphurs said.
She said the rough surf on top of the strong currents make it extremely dangerous, even for the best of swimmers.
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Another issue will be extreme high tides at typically busy beach times.
“We have very high tide conditions, so we expect to be closed to driving for long periods of time,” she said.
By 10 a.m. on Friday, there was almost no beach for anyone to sit on with the water hitting the walls.
“Right now you need to pay attention to those tides. We have that late morning high tide all weekend long. I think it’s around noon on Monday,” Malphurs said.
Malphurs said have a backup plan if you plan on driving onto the beach.
“We could be closing some of those beach access ramps because of the extreme high tides, so it’s really important to get here early and check those off-beach parking lots,” she said.
The county also has an app you can download to your phone called Volusia Beaches where you can see in real time where the lifeguards are posted, what the tide looks like, and which ramps are open or closed.
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